Impromptu Halloween
by Kisuru-chan
Summary: Shio is curious about Halloween. Worried something might happen to her, Satou tells her they can't leave the apartment. When Satou realizes Shio really wants to try it, she decides it would be best they have a mini Halloween of their own. Fluff. Fictober day 1. Prompt: Trick or Treat


**A/N**: Written for Fictober 2019. The fics I write for this challenge don't follow Fictober's official prompt list.

Thought of Satou and Shio trick-or-treating. Wanted to see how that'd play out in the apartment. Anyway, this is how I begin Fictober. I'll have to see how the rest of the month progresses for me.

-()-

The TV screen flickered in the darkened living room. On the screen, Shio watched a group of children race down a narrow street. Each child carried a bright orange pumpkin raised in their hands. That was not the strangest part of it, though. The children were dressed in dark clothes and had makeshift weapons at their sides.

Before she could think about it further and what they were wearing, the TV launched into a commercial break.

Curiosity overwhelmed Shio. Satou had explained the program was a holiday special. Shio had never seen so many kids dressed in cosplay! Sometimes Satou came home in different outfits, but her work was completely unrelated to that.

Shio scooted closer to Satou on the shared couch. She nudged her in the side with her elbow to wake her up. "Hey, Satou-chan." Thoughtfully, she cycled through the images from the special in her head, trying to remember what she learned. "What is… Ha… Harro… veen?" The pronunciation was a bit difficult.

Satou's eyes opened. Tilting her head on the couch headrest, she realized she had dozed off for an hour. Her internal clock told her, based on time, the Halloween program should be finished. She fumbled for the TV remote and turned it off.

Shio almost stopped her. The program wasn't finished with, after all. But she was far too interested in what Satou had to tell her to listen to the rest of it.

"You mean Halloween?" Satou yawned.

Shio nodded eagerly.

Satou rubbed her eyes and leaned into a proper sitting position. She hadn't paid attention to the special, but the holiday was famous enough for her on its own.

"On Halloween, you dress up in costumes and eat candy at the end of October," Satou explained. "In Western countries, they visit their neighbors and ask them for candy while they're in costume."

Amazement welled up within Shio. In such a big world, friends felt safe visiting each other. They could ask for candy so easily? Wouldn't it be a bother for them? But it sounded like a community event. Even so, she still couldn't believe it.

"I want to see Halloween, too. Like the kids on the TV." Shio stared at Satou with her best please-let's-do-this face. After all, Satou was touchy about letting her go outside the apartment with or without her, but she was sure she would understand the necessity of an occasion for candy. "They were outside! Can we go outside for Halloween and play, Satou-chan?"

A stab of fear shot through Satou's chest. On one hand, she was torn to say no to a request like that, but she didn't trust any occasion to have Shio in plain sight. "Oh, no, Shio-chan," Satou said, voice gentle. "We can't go outside on Halloween."

Shio's face fell. She always said that. But this time she had to press. "Why not?"

Satou grappled for an excuse. She was well-aware her foggy brain after waking up made her excuse weaker. "I don't know if the people in this complex give out candy," she confessed. It didn't seem likely that that they would do so anyway. "And brave kids go out on Halloween."

Shio shot her a defiant glare. "I'm brave!" She tugged at her sleeve urgently. "I'm really, really brave, I promise. We can find somewhere for candy. Please?"

Satou nodded. She pat Shio on the head, earning Shio's blush from the praise. "You are brave. Though on Halloween, there are scary monsters waiting for you." _And_, she added to herself, _monsters that might give you bad candy that'll make you sick. How can sweet candy come from toxic, bitter strangers outside?_

"Scary monsters?" Shio's eyes widened. She hadn't expected that turn of events. Had the weird outfits the kids wore on the program been to scare monsters away? Or… well, they had looked scary, too!

"Vampires, witches, yokai. They're all out there waiting," Satou listed off. Her hand settled on Shio's shoulder. A mischievous idea for a distraction came to her. Her fingertips danced on her shirt, ticking her. "They'll all try to spirit Shio-chan away in the night time, and gobble you up!"

Shio laughed. She was relentless, but she wriggled out of her hold, and she finally fell on the floor out of her direct reach.

"You'll protect me," Shio said, gasping her breath. Usually, she believed Satou in dangerous situations. Still, she had firm knowledge of the little fact of Satou's protectiveness. "You'll keep me safe."

"Of course I will. I'll fight them all off!" Warm pride pumped through Satou's veins. The imaginary hilt of a kitchen knife clutched against her palm was almost real. She opened and closed her fist, willing herself to realize it wasn't there. If anyone dared rip her sweet, precious angel from her, lest lure her with candy and use that as a bargaining chip, she would be the monster bumping in the night. But violence was only a last resort and she wasn't keen to initiate it. "It's better to be safe than sorry. I don't want to risk a monster hurting you, ever."

Shio pouted. She grumbled, then released the edge of the couch. Instead, she imagined the thin handle strap of a pumpkin in her hands. What would it feel like to wave one of those around?

Satou watched her. Guilt crept up on her until she pushed herself to her feet. "I know. We'll have our own Halloween."

Shio's expression lit up. "We can?"

"Yeah! I didn't tell you this earlier. I wanted it to be a surprise, but…" Satou cupped her cheek conspiratorially. "I bought you some candy. Tomorrow is Halloween. We can do it now, okay?"

Shio smiled. She didn't know what Satou had in store. Satou always had fun ideas.

"Satou-chan is mean." Shio made a sour face at her secret, but the ill feelings immediately petered out. She frowned. "I want candy! But that other thing you just said. I don't have a costume to wear?"

Satou waved that off. "Well, it's true most kids wear them. Costumes aren't a big deal. You don't need to wear a costume."

"But we can't have Halloween without costumes," Shio declared, putting her foot down on the subject. Satou couldn't back-track the custom. "You said so."

Many problems followed that demand. Satou hadn't expected to find a costume last minute. The stores were too far away. What would Shio want to dress up in? Choosing an outfit on her behalf would take a lot of time in public. Most of all, she didn't have the funds for a pretty and well-made outfit for only one day usage.

Snapping her fingers, she made a gesture for Shio to wait a minute. Digging around in the closet, she found the soft cosplay object in a box. She returned to the living room and knelt next to her on the floor.

"You can wear this," Satou said.

Shio blinked as a headband landed on the crown of her head. She touched it. Her fingers trailed down the orange fabric and the two long, dangling ears on top.

"I'm a puppy?" Shio asked. As a first impression, the hype for "scary monsters" disappointed her for a cuddly substitute. Puppies counted for Halloween? When she thought of scary, she thought of— Shio paused and wobbled, feeling dizzy. She breathed in and quickly stashed the stale fears of her past down in her heart where they belonged. A monster like the ones on the TV, spooky and fun… One of the monsters had told jokes. Could they be that bad after all? Satou was giving her the ears, and she was always right.

"A terrifying monster puppy," Satou clarified, confident. Her stomach sank with Shio's disappointment, but she would make the best of their impromptu Halloween bash. She flicked the floppy ear with her finger. "I'm scared of you. You're so cute you kill with cuteness!"

Shio shied away on reflex. Satou liked it, but… She had an image to uphold. "I don't think I'm that cute," she giggled.

"Shio-chan is the cutest!"

Shio adjusted the right ear, then the left, and she arranged it fit properly on her.

"While you get in character, let me go get your treat ready." Satou turned away.

"Wait, I don't have a pumpkin!" Shio recalled. The kids on the TV had swung pumpkins at their sides while they walked on the street. It must have a reason. "Is… the pumpkin for the candy?"

"You're so smart, aren't you?" Satou said, amused she had caught on from so little information. "Yeah, you carry the candy in the pumpkin. So you can carry a lot."

"But what do we do without a pumpkin?"

Satou did not have a pumpkin in her storage, or a real festive look-a-like jack-o-lantern. She glanced around the room, spotting a bag on the chair. She opened the clasp and handed it over to Shio.

"This will do. It's not as cute, though. Hold both ends open. Come when I tell you to," Satou said. She retreated from the living room towards the kitchen.

Shio waited. The nervous excitement bubbled up in her stomach. What would it feel like to have her first Halloween experience in the apartment when everyone else did it outside with the scary monsters? She didn't know.

Really, she didn't fully believe believe monsters came out on Halloween. She wanted to immerse in the possibility.

"Shio-chan! Come here," Satou called.

Following the muffled voice down the hallway, she stopped at the door to the side room. She peered up, confused.

"Why are you behind the door?"

"You have to knock!"

Shio shrugged, but she did so to get in the spirit of it. The sound of her knuckles rasping the hollow door made an eerily deep sound when she listened to it.

Satou revealed herself. The door slowly cracked open, which left Shio in suspense and heightened her sense of the moment. Maybe that was apart of Halloween, too.

"Now you have to say 'trick or treat,'" Satou said. "In a really loud voice."

"Trick or… Treat?" Shio bounced on her feet. Saying that phrase seemed silly. No! That was quitter's talk. She couldn't think like that, because Satou had told her to.

"Try again." Satou smiled invitingly.

Shio built up the air in her lungs. "Trick or treat!" she said. When she yelled it so fast, the phrase rolled off her tongue.

"Oh, my! And you're a delightful puppy for Halloween this year, I must say."

"No, Satou-chan said I'm a scary puppy." Puppies were supposed to be cute, but she had to prove she was truly evil… or whatever she was as a monster. Shio shook her head, the ears on her head wagging back and forth. She flashed her teeth and opened her mouth wide.

Faint from bliss, Satou almost wasn't sure she could continue. Shio was adorable!

Satou covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, my! I didn't know I would find a scary puppy at my door. I better hurry and give you your candy!" She dropped a few pieces of the candy in Shio's bag.

"Grrr!" Shio waved her hands like small paws. Seeing the candy fall, the feeling of accomplishment swelled within Shio. It was not the same feeling as taking it for herself from a jar somehow. Secretly, she wanted more candy. Most importantly, she had the underlying need to show her that she shouldn't underestimate her.

Unable to help herself, Satou would play that game. She tipped the bag over and the mix of mini soft bars and hard round candies poured into the bag at once.

"Satou-chan, that's too much candy!" Shio squeaked. She caught a few pieces with her hands before they spilled out of the bag, but there were too many to catch. Several pieces fell at her feet.

"The candy is for you," Satou reminded, winking. She reached down, picked up the stray candies on the floor, and slid them next to the candies already in the bag. "I'll give it all to you now, but you have to be responsible and eat a little tonight. Save some for tomorrow."

"Okay." Shio swung the bag in her hands, pleased. She was careful not to throw the candy pieces again. "That was really fun!"

Satou embraced her in a tight hug. Shio hugged her back and rested her cheek against her chest. "And best thing is, we can share these candies together."

"Yay!"


End file.
